


Winter’s Wrath

by I_Am_Actually_Here



Series: Winter Eternal [1]
Category: No Fandoms, mentions of multiple
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:13:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27370258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Am_Actually_Here/pseuds/I_Am_Actually_Here
Summary: Mirri always wanted to learn more about shapeshifters. She just wasn’t expecting that trying to learn more meant that she would end up living with them.
Relationships: OC/OC, OC/OC/OC
Series: Winter Eternal [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1999255





	Winter’s Wrath

“Mirri, are you mad?” Alaai stared at me in shock, mouth gaping upon while I nodded my head up and down, almost bouncing with excitement while my foot bounced up and down.

“But of course I am, Alaai! The wondrous chance to possibly view a living shapeshifter is far too great to turn from! Who would not want to see such a magnificent creature? I heard that they are a dozen feet tall, have claws sharper than any sword, teeth pointed and dripping with drool, and tails used a-” I stopped, noticing Alaai pale. I didn’t want to scare him off, as I did need him to come along. I had to get him to see just how incredible they were. I had to see.

Shapeshifters were certainly one of my favorite subjects. How could they not be everyone’s? The fierce, noble creatures that roamed the forests. They could turn into any sort of animal, the most notable the tigers. An almost extinct subspecies, yet they were the largest and most powerful, both physically and magically. The thought of seeing a shapeshifter, let alone a tiger, was compelling enough to have me go into the woods.

“Look, Alaai. We’re at the edge of the woods. Why not go any further into the woods? Why not discover everything that is out there? Why not see a shapeshifter, then come back? We would be able to boast about it, and no one would think me mad or you a coward anymore! I have read up on the creatures plenty; I could recognize one of the big ones simply from the drawings in my books!” 

Pressing the subject, I leaned over to show him one of my books, labelled “Shapeshifter Hierarchies”, filled with knowledge on how succession worked in their world, and who was in charge of each subspecies. There were eight subspecies, so eight leaders, and the High King, Skydancer. He was the only one with no drawing, something that constantly irked me. Why could there not be a single drawing of the famed Skydancer? 

Alaai did not seem interested in my book, as it only earned me a scowl and a shove.  
“These are the protectors’ woods. Why must we bother them while they work? And the odds of a shapeshifter still chancing wandering about? It is practically impossible, and you are aware of it. Not to mention...” I sighed, shrugging my shoulders dramatically as I wandered about slowly. It made perfect sense to me, though there was a slight sliver of fear at the thought of being caught by a shapeshifter. Alaai continued rambling about the dangers of the woods, waving his hands about to accentuate his words.

“Alaai.” Stopping his rant, he turned to face me, head slightly tilted. He opened his mouth to speak again, but I cut him off, waving a hand as if it would shut him up.

“I am going into the woods. Come with me or not, I don’t care.” Making sure that he understood my announcement, I took one large, overdramatic step into the forest. Hearing the quiet birdsong, I felt somewhat at ease, and continued walking further into the woods. There was no trail, other than a deer’s. Seeing as a deer’s trail was better than no trail, I followed it, wondering what I would get to see. Huffing and screaming behind me marked Alaai’s presence. Without a word, I turned around and shushed him, rolling my eyes at his wild appearance. He whimpered, seeming to deflate, but nodded, now only quietly following me.

“This place seems odd, Mirri. There was birdsong at the beginning of the forest’s edge, and now there is none. This trail gets thicker and thicker, which means that there were less deer running through. Something is wrong here, and we should head back,” Alaai hissed quietly after a few moments. His words brought upon the realization that there truly was no more birdsong. At some point it had stopped, and I simply had not noticed. The path was now more thicket than path, though it had not started out overly well-made.

“It will be fine, Alaai. I’ll keep you safe from scary brambles,” I taunted, though I was serious about protecting him. I had a small kitchen knife in my pocket that would, at best, cut through a bramble bush. It would do no good against any enemy, other than maybe a light cut. _Too bad Mum never let me learn a thing about fighting. “Too improper for a lady,” she said. Absolutely ridiculous,_ I thought to myself angrily. Feeling something cling to my arm, I looked to see Alaai, intertwining his hand with mine.

“W-we should just stick together,” he mumbled, averting his gaze. I nodded, grinning in approval. Words were not needed, so they were unused as we continued along the deer trail, Alaai seeming to cling on tighter with every passing breath, but never too tight.

“Alaai, look at the sky,” I pointed out eventually, noting the ever-darkening expanse of blue, slowly turning into a fierce sunset, a painting in of itself. Alaai followed where I pointed, a frown settling onto his face as he shook his head. 

“If we are out here in the night, the protectors will mistake us for shapeshifters, or shapeshifters will mistake us for protectors. We ought to go back, Mirri. No sight is worth dying for, not now, not ever.” We met each other’s gazes, both pleading in a different way. I knew Alaai wanted to leave, and I could never let him leave by himself. I would never forgive myself were he to die while I fulfilled a childish dream of seeing a shapeshifter, either.

“To the end of the trail, Alaai. Then we will leave, and I swear to you, I will never ask you to accompany me in the woods again. I swear it, Alaai, by all your gods.” Alaai’s frown only deepened, but he nodded, squeezing my hand almost to an unbearable point, yet I allowed him. We both continued in the woods, flinching every time a scream started to sound out. Whatever the screams were, they were not human. They could always be heard from the woods, only at night, so they were not what scared us. It was the new sensation of being so terrifyingly close to those screams. Whether they were screams of pain or simply the sounds of an animal, I believed neither of us wanted to know. Following the trail to the end proved to be much harder than originally believed, though I could have sworn I had seen specks of red across the trail.

No, I definitely had to be seeing specks of red. And far more than just specks at this point. The trail was becoming more wild as well. The screaming started to grow more repetitive, and louder as well. “Alaai, maybe we should turn around,” I whispered to him, feeling unnerved. He, shivering, added on a soft agreement. We both turned around, starting to head back when one of the screams sounded from right behind us. I whipped around, Alaai screaming in response, and looked at the scene, formerly hidden by branches, now in front of me.

There was... _something,_ ripping apart a deer and eating it. It was no animal that ate the deer, yet certainly no person. It looked almost to be the shadow of a monster, freed from the chains of following. It was eating the deer, though it was looking at Alaai and I, holes in its face where its eyes should have been. A low growl came from the creature, far more terrifying than the scream I assumed it had let out. Shaking its head, it stood up on two legs, long arms with tapered claws for fingers dripping with blood and viscera.

In the blink of an eye, perhaps even shorter than, the nightmarish creature was gone, a gorgeous man in its place. With long, unbrushed black hair, reaching to about the small of his back, ears sticking out with a slight point, unbelievably long, and stone grey eyes, the man looked down at Alaai and I from his place above the deer. The darker tones of his skin almost helped him blend in, were it not for those eyes. They were entirely primal, something that screamed predator. And we were the prey. He could not have been any shorter than seven feet, though the height was impossible for any human. Unlikely for a shapeshifter as well, but possible. This man, he could not have ever been what I expected a shapeshifter to be; rather, he was almost the living incarnation of a demon. Something about this man was very wrong, and we needed to run. My feet I knew would not obey in this moment, though. Fear had frozen me to the blood-spattered grass.

“Shapeshifter!” Alaai screeched, color now entirely drained from his face, though he had little color to begin with. The man sighed, straightening his back with a large scowl on his face. Opening his mouth, he began speaking a language that seemed to make no sense, though I did recognize some words. “M-Mirri, we need to run!” Alaai tugged on my arm, looking desperate, but I did not move.

“Then run, Alaai. He is only speaking to us. I do not understand most of it, but some of the words are familiar. He seems to be saying something about siblings, and oh. We should leave now,” I agreed nervously, realization dawning upon me. Fear had turned me numb to his words, almost in a calmed sense, yet that calm was quickly fading. The man was saying something of his siblings, presumably coming to him. I turned away from the man slowly, before starting to run, my feet finally agreeing with me, dragging Alaai with me. _That man is nothing like any shapeshifter I have ever read about. Shapeshifters resemble animals, not monsters. What is he?_ Nothing I had ever read about had mentioned anything like him, not only the books of the shapeshifters.

A small yelp sounded from behind me, and I felt Alaai’s hand leave mine. I turned around to see he had tripped on a root, smashing his face on the ground. Small hiccups sounded from him as he hurriedly stood back up, violently quivering. I could not fault him for his tears. I, too, felt them sting at the corners of my eyes. I grabbed his hand again and moved to run, but did not. Dread and fear filled my entire body at the sight of her. She was someone I recognized, a monstrous drawing from the books. A creature meant to be avoided at all costs, told as a nightmarish story to every child who dared go into the woods. One of the eight.

Ebony hair waved down to her shoulders, every hair perfectly in place with three long strands in the back tied neatly, connected at the bottom. Long ears stuck out from her hair, pointed and matching just right with the woman. Perfectly green eyes stared down at Alaai, disgust plainly evident in her face. Soft chocolate skin marred by tattoos of a leopard and scars. In her hand was nothing more than a simple silver dagger, the sides jagged and cruel. One of the most famed shapeshifters in existence, known for her unusual bloodlust, even for a shapeshifter. The fearsome second-born of the royal family, the older sister of the shapeshifter king. Asena Ruenhaert, the shapeshifter told in almost every story of horror.

“Apollo, hytra ins tevark,” she hummed, voice far too sweet for her reputation and the harsh language. It was almost a voice that dripped honey and sugar. Laughter sounded from her, and from behind us as well.

“Adda, nehorsh tyn. Fareehkra tennoe dys stortra,” a calm voice spoke from behind us, the same guttural and unnatural one belonging to the man we were running away from. Alaai was certainly crying now, if he had not been beforehand. Tears rolled down his face as he shook. I moved over to hug him, murmuring a quiet encouragement. We were going to die out here, eaten alive by shapeshifters, all because of a childish dream. Both laughed, before Asena shapeshifted, a monstrous creature that maybe had once been a leopard, but most certainly now was not. The man behind us must have been her sibling, though I could not recognize him. I would die wondering. A feral snarl came from Asena as she stalked forward, ready to pounce at any time; she was merely taunting.

“Asena. Apollo. Hytra tennoe kyra toh. Una yrr malae.” A third voice sounded, rich and low, yet smooth, like the lowest chime, stopping Asena in her tracks. If the first two were gorgeous, then this man was ethereal. _Stupid shapeshifters being gorgeous._

Unlike the first two, this man had silver hair, intricately braided, with moss and flowers woven in. Slightly pointed ears came out from his hair, almost like an elf’s, yet smaller than the other two’s. Unusually pale eyes, unclear with echoes and wisps of a soft moss green, stared at nothing in particular. The soft, caramel skin that colored the man was notably painted with stripes, resembling that of a tiger, though they were mostly hidden by the cloak he wore. He held a cane in his left hand, seeming to support him as he sagged slightly against it. He turned to Alaai and I with a sunny smile that almost made me forget the danger we were in. Undoubtedly, he was a shapeshifter as well, yet he gave no indication that he meant to attack.

“Please, forgive my friends. They tend to forget they have minds as well as claws. I mean you no harm, neither of you hymens. My name is Andy, and these two are Apollo and Asena.” I stared in blank shock at the man, Alaai’s sniffles slowing down as he seemed to register the words. _Did...did he just call us hymens? Oh, please let it simply be he does not understand the word._

“Andy, hytra tennoe kyre toh. Ousha bhen lhk quare, vharos tel madra.” The second man, Andy, looked behind us to glare at where I presumed the monster’s shadow was.

“Apollo. Illitae.” A grumble and whine sounded from behind, but the first man, who I guessed to be Apollo, made no further attempt to seemingly argue. Andy faced Alaai and I, smile returned to his face. “You must be quite frightened. I assure you, my friends speak nothing that is a threat to you,” Andy promised. The majority of their words made no sense, but I could understand their basic intentions.

“That is a lie! Your friends want nothing more than to kill Alaai and I! We are not your food!” I spat at him, feeling a sudden moment of bravery. Andy’s eyes widened, and he took a step back, hand on his chest. I noted that only one of his legs moved, which was rather odd. _A shapeshifter, surviving with more than one disability? How odd..._ Asena yowled angrily, tail lashing about while a shriek came from presumably Apollo. I yelped, and immediately quieted myself. “F-forgive me.”

“You understand at least some of our language. I should have understood that from the beginning. My apologies, little hymen.” Andy spoke again, while I tried not to puff in annoyance. How hard is it to remember the word is human, and not hymen? Obviously unable to read my thoughts, Andy extended a hand, taking a deep breath. “You and your friend, you must be hungry. I offer you a place to stay for at least the night, as well as dinner and breakfast, as an apology for my friends’ behavior. If you do not wish to, I will make sure you are returned to the edge of the woods safely.” His voice was soft, sweet, and overall tempting. I looked back at Alaai, curious for his opinion. He was looking down at the ground, still shivering slightly.

“Alaai. Let’s go with them. It is not every day we are given the chance to dine with shapeshifters!” Excitement started to fill me, though the fear still lingered. Alaai looked up at me, still holding onto my hand.

“Mirri, think of it. We would be in a shapeshifter den. It is entirely unsafe!” Lowering his voice, he added on a quick “Even if they are unbelievably pretty, we cannot go with them.” I blinked slowly, before facing Andy once more.

“We will gladly accompany you!” I chirped, earning a horrified shriek from Alaai. Andy nodded, facing away from us and into the woods.

“Very well. Please, follow me. If you are too tired to walk, I can carry you. I promise you both that you will not be harmed.” He began walking off, Asena and the first man following close behind. Neither man shapeshifted, and Asena shifted back, which I guessed to be so that Alaai and I would not be left behind. I could only assume that it was because Andy was setting the pace. I continued the pattern of following, Alaai dragging his feet as he trailed after me. I stifled a yawn, determined not to get too far behind the shapeshifters as I sped up. Alaai complained quietly behind me at the change of pace, though he followed. Just continuous walking, further and further into the woods. At some point, Alaai had repeatedly begun stumbling, though whether it was because neither of us could see from the dark or because of fatigue, I could not tell. I held onto him, half carrying and half dragging him. I had foolishly thought that the shapeshifter den was nearer than our village, and yet it had not been.

“Not far,” I heard “Apollo” mutter, turning back to Alaai and I. He sighed, looking at Alaai annoyedly, before holding out his hands. “Give. Apollo will carry,” he grumbled. I hesitated, glaring at him while holding onto Alaai tighter. At least he had confirmed that he was Apollo, saving the embarrassment of asking.

“Little hymens, we are here now,” Andy’s chime of a voice called out. I took a deep breath, deciding it was still not worth it to correct the man that had saved us. For all I knew, he did not react to criticism well. Looking about, I saw nothing, and wondered if he was simply mad. It would explain why he had dared to challenge Asena.

“There is nothing here,” Alaai said confidently, looking about with a curious look. All three of our companions laughed, though I had lost sight of Apollo once more.

“Magic, hide Tiehvahrin,” Asena explained, using the same broken English Apollo had. It appeared as if they only knew bits and pieces of it, the same way I only knew fragments of their language. It sounded similar to the shapeshifter language I had thought to study, yet more primal, in a sense. The bits she did seem to know were incredibly helpful though.

 _So they can hide Tiehvahrin from the protectors. That makes sense, seeing as they are constantly at war with each other. I know I would not enjoy an ambush from anyone while I slept._ I nodded to Asena, who seemed to no longer care for my presence once more. Andy was mumbling something under his breath somewhere in front of me, but I could not tell exactly where he was or what he was saying. The more he spoke, the more light seemed to appear. At some point while I watched the light grow, a city began to form before my eyes. “This must be Tiehvahrin. Alaai, look! Think of how many humans have been here before us! Hardly any!” I squealed at him excitedly. He did not look half as enthusiastic as I felt, looking more asleep than anything. Andy turned around, smiled at us, and spread his arms out in a greeting manner. 

“I welcome you both to Tiehvahrin.”


End file.
